Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 15, No. 87, March, 1875Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 15, No. 87, March, 1875
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
Children, too, are sent to school in the same unprotected manner: one
may meet them any day trooping through the streets, their bare heads
shining in the sun or glistening in the rain, according as the fickle
sky may smile or weep; and babies are drawn about in the open air,
two, and sometimes three of them, crowded into a small carriage and
sweltering under a feather bed which covers them to their chins, and
yet with their bald pates exposed to all the winds that blow. The
ignorant recklessness with which the changes of temperature are met is
well exemplified in the attire of little girls and young maidens who
participate in the religious processions which take place so
frequently in Munich, especially during the spring and early summer.
On such occasions, although the weather may be so chilly that the
bystanders are wrapped up to their eyes in shawls and cloaks, these
young creatures appear clad in thin white muslin dresses, with necks
and arms bare, and with no covering upon the head more substantial
than a wreath of flowers or a gauze veil: and in this condition they
march through the wet and windy streets, and settle down finally to a
prolonged service in a church as cold and damp as a cellar.
Another source of harm is the ordinary diet of the citizens. There is
probably no large city of the Old World where the lower classes are
able to obtain so much substantial food as in Munich. Indeed, there
is, properly speaking, no abject poverty in that city, although the
population, as a whole, possesses less wealth than is usually found in
capitals; one reason of this being the fact that many families who are
rich enough to choose their place of residence avoid Munich on account
of its notorious sickliness, while their places are filled by
tradesmen and artisans of all kinds, who must make a living at
whatever risk of life. But, at any rate, no one dies there of
starvation, and the great majority of the citizens are able to have
meat for dinner every day. Unfortunately, veal--and very young veal at
that--is the favorite dish of all classes, so that the benefit derived
from animal juices is not so great as it might be. During the recent
Franco-German war it was remarked that the Bavarian soldiers were able
neither to resist nor to endure so well as the troops of North
Germany; and by many this difference was ascribed to the habitual use
by the former of veal as the chief article of diet. There is no doubt,
too, that the immoderate drinking of beer tends to weaken instead of
strengthen the inhabitants, especially as so many of them drink when
they ought to eat, even beginning a day's work by chilling their
stomachs with this cold beverage, and necessitating thereby a
supplementary draught of "schnapps," thus creating excitement instead
of nourishment, and superinducing a second bad habit upon a first.
Pure Bavarian beer, taken in moderation, would be an excellent thing,
for its stimulating and nutritive properties are a good counterpoise
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